The number of SWAT team raids in the United States every year is now more than 25 times higher than it was back in 1980. As America has conducted wars overseas in recent years, our police forces have become increasingly militarized as well. And without a doubt, many of our cities have become much more dangerous places. Thanks to relentless illegal immigration, drug cartels are thriving and there are now at least 1.4 million gang members living in the United States. But there are many that believe that the militarization of our police forces has gone way too far. Almost weekly, SWAT team brutality somewhere in America makes national headlines. You are about to read about a couple of horrific examples of this below. Once upon a time, police in America were helpful and friendly and the public generally trusted them. But now our police forces are being transformed into military-style units that often act like they are in the middle of Iraq or Afghanistan. The following are 10 facts about the SWATification of America that everyone should know

#1 In 1980, there were approximately 3,000 SWAT raids in the United States. Now, there are more than 80,000 SWAT raids per year in this country.

#2 79 percent of the time, SWAT teams are deployed to private homes.

#3 50 percent of the victims of SWAT raids are either black or Latino.

#4 In 65 percent of SWAT deployments, a battering ram, boot, or some sort of explosive device is used to gain forced entry to a home.

#5 62 percent of all SWAT raids involve a search for drugs.

#6 In at least 36 percent of all SWAT raids, no contraband of any kind is found by the police.

#7 In cases where it is suspected that there is a weapon in the home, police only find a weapon 35 percent of the time.

#8 More than 100 American families have their homes raided by SWAT teams every single day.

#9 Only 7 percent of all SWAT deployments are for hostage, barricade or active-shooter scenarios.

#10 Even small towns are getting SWAT teams now. 30 years ago, only 25.6 percent of communities with populations between 25,000 and 50,000 people had a SWAT team. Now, that number has increased to 80 percent.

And thanks to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, police forces all over the nation are being showered with billions of dollars of military equipment that is coming home from overseas. The following is what a recent Time Magazine article had to say about this phenomenon

As the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have wound down, police departments have been obtaining military equipment, vehicles and uniforms that have flowed directly from the Department of Defense. According to a new report by the ACLU, the federal government has funneled $4.3 billion of military property to law enforcement agencies since the late 1990s, including $450 million worth in 2013. Five hundred law enforcement agencies have received Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, built to withstand bomb blasts. More than 15,000 items of military protective equipment and battle dress uniforms, or fatigues worn by the U.S. Army, have been transferred. The report includes details of police agencies in towns like North Little Rock, Ark., (pop: 62,000), which has 34 automatic and semi-automatic rifles, a Mamba tactical vehicle and two MARCbots, which are armed robots designed for use in Afghanistan.

But when you start arming the police like military units and your start training them like military units, eventually they start acting like military units and the results are often quite frightening.

For example, just check out what happened when a SWAT team in Florida raided the home of one young couple earlier this month

At approximately 6:16 am on June 10th, 2014, Kari Edwards and her live-in boyfriend were seized upon by a SWAT team who smashed in the door and using flashbangs and armed to the teeth, swarmed upon the couple and even stripped Ms. Edwards naked in the process.

The couple says that the group entailed personnel from DHS, for whom Edwards once worked. After smashing in the door, the tactical team threw in flashbang grenades, traumatizing their cat and swarmed upon Edwardss boyfriend and Edwards who had just gotten out of the shower.

They busted in like I was a terrorist or something, Edwards said.

[An officer] demanded that I drop the towel I was covering my naked body with before snatching it off me physically and throwing me to the ground.

While I lay naked, I was cuffed so tightly I could not feel my hands. For no reason, at gunpoint, Edwards said. [Agents] refused to cover me, no matter how many times I asked.

That is the kind of thing that I would expect to happen in Nazi Germany, not the United States of America.

But this next example is even more horrifying. The following is what one mother says happened to her 2-year-old son when a SWAT team raided her home

After the SWAT team broke down the door, they threw a flashbang grenade inside. It landed in my sons crib.

Flashbang grenades were created for soldiers to use during battle. When they explode, the noise is so loud and the flash is so bright that anyone close by is temporarily blinded and deafened. Its been three weeks since the flashbang exploded next to my sleeping baby, and hes still covered in burns.

Theres still a hole in his chest that exposes his ribs. At least thats what Ive been told; Im afraid to look.

My husbands nephew, the one they were looking for, wasnt there. He doesnt even live in that house. After breaking down the door, throwing my husband to the ground, and screaming at my children, the officers  armed with M16s  filed through the house like they were playing war. They searched for drugs and never found any.

I heard my baby wailing and asked one of the officers to let me hold him. He screamed at me to sit down and shut up and blocked my view, so I couldnt see my son. I could see a singed crib. And I could see a pool of blood. The officers yelled at me to calm down and told me my son was fine, that hed just lost a tooth.

Does that make you angry?

It should.

That young child is probably going to be disfigured for the rest of his life because of the brutality and the carelessness of that SWAT team.

Yes, we live in perilous times and many of our communities would rapidly descend into anarchy if there were no police.

But that does not mean that they have to act like Nazis. They should be able to protect us while treating us with dignity and respect at the same time.

"Theres a reason why you separate the military and the police. One fights the enemy of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people."

Since I doubt that Hollywood writers are smart enough to come up with that quote, they probably swiped it from a real philosopher or political commentator. Does anyone have an idea about the original source?

4
posted on 06/27/2014 8:44:04 AM PDT
by KarlInOhio
(The IRS: either criminally irresponsible in backup procedures or criminally responsible of coverup.)

SWAT teams are for when the suspect is known to be extremely dangerous and when a regular serving of a warrant was met with fire. It is strange how the hippies of the 60's where concerned with police brutality when all the cops did was using batons. Now when the same hippies are in charge, they are okay with flash grenades and SWAT teams against private citizens.

5
posted on 06/27/2014 8:47:34 AM PDT
by BitWielder1
(Corporate Profits are better than Government Waste)

I find it disturbing that SWAT teams are increasingly being used to serve routine warrants on non-violent offenders. It seems law enforcement, like all other parts of government suffers from a chronic lack of common sense.

When the chinese stop lending us money and the Federal Government is forced to cut spending and the dead-beat “Amish” start rioting because their entitlements are cut it might be good to have heavily armed policeman to suppress the savages...

‘the dead-beat Amish start rioting because their entitlements are cut it might be good to have heavily armed policeman to suppress the savages...’

In Los Angeles the LAPD was conspicuous by its absence in the Rodney King riots. Government buildings including police stations were heavily guarded but commercial property was fair game. Only citizens defending their own businesses kept some restraints on the blackamoors rioting and burning. Police will not, repeat will not be allowed to use deadly force against the Dem voting base no matter how much destruction they wreak. Blackamoors and increasingly Latinos are more equal than whitey and that is how it will be until white men start behaving as they once did.

LOL! You really think they’ll suppress “amish”?
They’re gonna let them roam free and pillage at will. If you’re a white, christian teabagger on the other hand you’re day-of-reckoning has arrived the day SWAT is unleashed upon society.

17
posted on 06/27/2014 10:36:02 AM PDT
by Roman_War_Criminal
(Bible Summary in a few verses: John 14:6, John 6:29, Romans 10:9-10)

SWAT is getting out of hand, they should be under strict control where you only have 1, 2 or 3 per state although a side of me thinks maybe they should be banned. The militarization of law enforcement concerns me. I was sitting in my car eating lunch one time and noticed the local cop car parked next to me and I saw a CAR-15 inside. I can understand where if they need a shotgun handy, maybe a .30-30 Winchester but I think that is way overboard. Basically, they just need a revolver and a 1970’s era VHF/UHF walkie-talkie.

I live in a red state. If the Federal Government is forced to cut entitlements because of a lack of money than it will be upon State and Local governments to take care of themselves. The Fed’s won’t be able to protect the Amish...

Yeah, but if they don’t do no-knock entries in the middle of the night the suspects might manage to flush the evidence down the toilet and the raid would be for nought. And then they wouldn’t get to pursue civil asset forfeiture against the house and anything valuable they might find in it. And the cops wouldn’t get to play at being G.I. Joe with body armour, M16s, and armored cars nearly as often.

Yeah, but if they dont do no-knock entries in the middle of the night the suspects might manage to flush the evidence down the toilet and the raid would be for nought.

For naught only if their real objective is not the professed objective of getting drugs off the streets.

Speaking of real objectives:

And then they wouldnt get to pursue civil asset forfeiture against the house and anything valuable they might find in it. And the cops wouldnt get to play at being G.I. Joe with body armour, M16s, and armored cars nearly as often.

In my experience, unless its a hostage/barricaded gunman type thing, a simple unassuming knock on the door was more productive than anything else.

You know, I think that's very true. One night in the late 1990s, I had a team of police officers knock on my door. They advised me they were in pursuit of a burglary suspect that had been seen fleeing over the tops of backyard fences in my neighborhood. They wanted to let me know that armed officers with flashlights would be coming into my backyard. They asked me to remain inside and away from windows. They were extremely professional. They even knocked on my door again, about a half-hour later, to let me know that my yard was safe, they were leaving, and to please call them if I saw or heard anything suspicious. It never occurred to me to do anything other than follow their instructions, and to thank them sincerely. I doubt anyone else in the neighborhood reacted any differently than I.

Today, given exactly the same circumstances, I would be terrified, more of the police than of the burglary suspect.

25
posted on 06/27/2014 2:15:11 PM PDT
by lonevoice
(Life is short. Make fun of it.)

When the chinese stop lending us money and the Federal Government is forced to cut spending and the dead-beat Amish start rioting because their entitlements are cut it might be good to have heavily armed policeman to suppress the savages...

If such a thing comes to pass then the best thing to maintain order will be adequately armed private citizens. I say that because with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as a case-in-point the average citizen needs to treat every cop as a potential murderer when civil order breaks down.

Not to say that all cops are potential murderers, but it's abundantly clear that enough of them are that it's prudent not to trust them with your life of the lives of your loved ones.

27
posted on 06/27/2014 4:56:50 PM PDT
by MeganC
(Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.)

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